Symbology

I am not an observant person. Certainly, I can pick out where the door of my office is; perhaps notice the sky, I might. But, by and large, I miss things that most people see. I've even been known to lose my keys - forgetting that they are in my hand or my sunglasses while they sit on top of my dome. When it comes to observing people, I generally miss the big picture. I am aware when people are happy because they laugh; I have an understanding when people are sad - tears being the obvious indicator. Ask me to search for the obvious clues that my wife is frustrated with me and I will fail every time.

Three days ago, my wife was frustrated with me and I missed it which led to missed signals which led to a silent treatment, which I took as Christine just needed a little time to herself. Little did I know that she actually wanted to talk but she wanted me to start the conversation. As the smoke poured out her ears and she actually had to tell me that she wanted me to start the conversation, I looked into the mirror of the bathroom, propping my hands on the countertop and then heard a distinct 'pop'. I looked down at my hand and noticed the unthinkable - my wedding ring had snapped.

That is some bad mojo.

The history of the wedding ring dates back to the time of the Pharaoh's of Egypt when civilization was springing up along side the banks of the Nile River. The Nile River was a bringer of fortune and fertility and the earliest wedding rings were fashioned from reeds along side the river to make bracelets for the arms and rings for fingers. The ring is, of course, a symbol of eternity: there is no beginning or end. In the early Egyptian culture, it was shaped like the sun or the moon and the space inside the ring is not just empty space, but a doorway to greater things. Then, like now, the ring was worn on the (no shock) ring finger because this finger was assumed to have the vein that traveled right to the heart. The symbolism was taken up by the Greeks later on who called the vein the vena amoris - the vein of love. Early rings were made of hemp, probably, but if you really loved your significant other, your ring was made out of bone or stone: it didn't wear out after a year.

The ring symbol stuck. Gradually, rings made of different metals took over. The Romans used iron, although rust became a problem. Later on, wealthy men began to give their brides gold rings as a symbol of the wealth of his love for her. Some rings were not in the shape of rings at all, but in the shape of keys. These 'key rings' were not given at the wedding ceremony but to the wife when the husband carried her across the threshold of the new house.

Either way, I broke my symbol the other morning.

In the wedding service, we exchanged wedding rings as a symbol of our love and faithfulness to each other. Now, mine was broken. What did this mean? Because the symbol was broken, did that mean our marriage was faltering? Does that mean I should start peeking around corners for women who would think I was single and who were in search of a particularly lonely, unobservant pastor? (I sometimes have too high an opinion of myself)

Of course not. The ring broke because the gold, after all these year (it was is my father's wedding ring) had worn enough on the thin part and it had cracked. The jeweler told me it was easily fixed (and even easier for him to tell me it will cost $40 to fix it. $40? Come on - just weld it back together and I'll give him a nice ten spot).

The ring is a symbol of love and faithfulness in marriage, but then again almost everything in life is a symbol or can be thought of symbolically. I wear a stole on Sunday morning (sometimes) and on the stole are different symbols representing different aspects of worship life whether wheat and grapes for bread and wine, or crosses symbolizing the sacrifice of Jesus. Even colors are symbols - purple being royalty, white being purity, blue being sadness, cranberry meaning... actually I don't know what cranberry means but for some reason, I guess it's a color.

All things can be symbols: Cars are symbols of status - Rolls Royce - rich; VW bug - environmentalist/farfegnugganist; Pick-up truck - rugged, outdoorsy type like my co-pastor Lee (without the ruggedness). 1986 Buick Century, Mary Kay Car, rusted and dented side panels - totally classy. (my first car)

The greatest symbol of all time is the Bible. In all observation, the Bible is a book - it looks like a book, smells like a book, reads like a book. Symbolically speaking, the Bible is infinitely more than just binding, pages, words and ink. A symbol is something that represents something else - when you see a symbol, you automatically think on two levels. With the Bible, it is not only a book, but also the Word of God. Martin Luther went one step deeper and said that the Bible is "the cradle of Christ." It is not Christ, it is not God, but Jesus can be encountered in the words itself.

In this present culture, the Bible has been cracked and in many ways broken. It has been misused to bolster the ideologies of groups, it has been abused to proclaim dominion over all sorts of people, but almost more often, the Bible has been neglected and literally cracks from dis-use. We, as a contemporary people, by and large have no idea what this symbol says to us and more often than not, we don't want to know because it might change us - it might cause us to give up other symbols of status and relevance and lead us to the ultimate of symbols - the cross where heaven and earth were split and cracked so that we might finally, once again, be re-united with God of heaven and earth.

What does this symbol speak of, first and foremost?

Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.

I'll try and go a little deeper next week. I have to go apologize to my wife now for breaking my symbol of love and faithfulness.